Tag: Born Losers Records

THALA Teases Debut LP adolescence with Dreamy Single “contradictions”

Photo Credit: Celeste Call

Berlin may have a reputation for hard-hitting techno beats, but from that smoke and noise emerges German singer-songwriter THALA (pronounced TAH-LAH). Her dreamy shoegaze pop evokes genre mainstays like Mazzy Star, particularly in THALA’s vocal style, alongside more contemporary classics like Tamaryn’s 2012 record Tender New Signs.

THALA shared her latest single “contradictions” on Friday, September 3; it will appear alongside previously released songs like “diditagain” and “bad blood” on her debut LP adolescence out September 17 via Philly’s Born Losers Records and Berlin’s Duchess Box Records. The pastel-hued track makes everything slightly effervescent, as though you’re wearing those sunglasses that block out blue UV light.

So how did this sunny songwriter arrive from the high-BPM intensity of Berlin’s music scene? THALA says she’s “always been a fan of guitar-made music, organically made music, more than electronic music, or any other music for that matter,” attending large festivals since her early adolescence. She’s been seriously writing for the last two or so years, a late start she attributes to a lack of life experience.

“Maybe I had to experience some more things to actually be able to write about them,” she says. “I feel like that’s what the songs are about: my life. [If] I hadn’t lived or experienced the things I’m talking about, there wouldn’t be stuff to write about.” 

adolescence reveals a sentiment that is both tender and jaded, nostalgic but knows better, capturing what it feels like to look back at your adolescence from an older, wiser perspective. When it does look forward, it’s at times dispirited, articulating the feeling of time slipping away, looking for answers about the future in the past. “contradictions,” in particular, crystalizes that sense that you can both still love someone and recognize how wrong they were for you all at once. Though THALA doesn’t call out the ghosts from her past by name, she says, “I think that people that listen to the song will know that it’s about them, and that is the most I can ask for.”

Over the course of 2020, THALA released three singles, including Bearcubs collaboration “Something in the Water;” she’s kept it up in 2021 by slowly rolling out adolescence song by song. Her confidence is justified, if somewhat surprising; though her parents discouraged her from pursuing a career as a musician, “that was the dream,” she says, continuing: “I never had any lessons or any course or anything whatsoever in that direction, but the more I was denied, I wanted it even more.”

She began writing in earnest after a three year stint living in the Canary Islands, though it wasn’t always smooth sailing. “I remember being so frustrated I almost threw my phone out the window, or my guitar at the wall,” she says. But she persisted, returning to Berlin to perform at open mics and quickly becoming well-connected in that scene. Eventually she quit her day job and busked for a season, moving forward until music became her sole focus. “I really wanted to make up the time I had lost, in whatever sense you could say that,” she explains.

She picked up some opening slots on bigger tours, capturing the attention of Duchess Box and then Born Losers. Having two record labels suits her, she says, as she desperately wants to reach an American audience, who she thinks will be more interested in her sound. Like the rest of the record, “contradictions” is deeply confessional, sourced from THALA’s personal experiences.

“I wrote it because it needed to get out, and then I feel like once it was finished, the people I showed it to, it reached them in a way. And then they told me their stories, and I guess if it does that then it does a good job,” she says. “I wanted to get it off my chest, things I carried with me for such a long time.”

With her load lightened, she’s ready to hit the road. THALA is booked to play a few European festivals in the coming months, but besides that, she’s already started writing another album. “I am not standing still,” she says. “I’m still working working working working. I want to become even better.”

Follow THALA on Instagram for ongoing updates.

Philly Synth-Pop Artist Catherine Moan Broadcasts Aspirational Joy with “Drop It!”

Philly isn’t really known for a bustling electro-pop scene, but emerging synth artist and songwriter Catherine Moan just might change that. The city’s known more for its contributions to punk and hip hop, and Moan felt a bit lost in it all, not sure where she fit in. “It [felt] sometimes like imposter syndrome, where I’m like, oh well, I’m not using all these real instruments, like guitar and bass, and I’m not making grimy real sounding imperfect music,” she says. But with the onset of the pandemic, Moan had the opportunity to stop everything else and really delve into her sound, without the insecurity that comes with comparisons to others. The fruit of this labor is her debut LP Chain Reaction, out in September on Born Losers Records. Today, she shares her first-ever music video, for single “Drop It!”

Like many artists, the pandemic became a sort of blessing in disguise for Moan, where the cessation of soul-crushing day jobs and the influx of government aid allowed her to refine the music that had been floating around in her head for many years. “The entire quarantine situation unlocked this creative outlet that was so liberating… I was doing schoolwork and everything before so I was super divided, and so my personal projects, I couldn’t really focus. With isolation I was able to make that my number one priority,” she says. It wasn’t all good, though, and the balance here further unlocked a lot of creative potential. “At the same time, all these terrible things were happening in succession with the world and personal stuff. I had so much going on that was like a perfect storm of all these things you have to worry about. I even lost my therapist, so the music became my therapy. Each song I was working on I’d pick a specific problem I was facing and flesh it out, make it into a song, a sound, poetry.”

And so she wrote the entirety of Chain Reaction during lockdown, citing early Depeche Mode, CHRVCHES, and TR/ST as influential for how they were able to use high energy beats alongside somber lyrics to create a sound that was both fun and serious at the same time. “The number one thing with music that I try to keep in focus is that it’s kind of silly,” she says, articulating her own vision. “It’s not entirely serious, because you’re dancing around and singing in your bedroom. Even if I’m writing about something super serious and personal, I try to keep a touch of light-heartedness and fun and clownery in it.”

The “Drop It!” video reflects this in its perfectly simple concept, in which Moan sings alone in front of a green screen background, solid colors and nightclub scenes superimposed behind her while the lyrics pop up in the foreground. It feels aspirational in nature, like she’s trying to manifest the fun she’ll have once it’s all over. There’s no one else at the party, only her cat and multiple animations of herself dancing in conjunction with her real body. “I feel like that one is less about me and more about a collective feeling of what [we were] observing or experiencing during the pandemic [at] the peak of it,” she explains. “That winter was super tough, probably the worst winter we’ll all experience together. The one thing I really wanted to do was be dancing, be out with my friends, in such proximity that you’re almost overheating, and just find a way to channel that and forget and put myself in a headspace where it was like, we’re having fun, we’re dancing around, we’re having a great time.” 

The timing of the release is serendipitous in that it aligns with the reopening of clubs and music venues. With this in mind, Moan begins to prepare for her very first live shows ever. She has no formal musical background, mainly just an urge to write music that was never placated by traditional instruments or outlets. “It was a bunch of attempts and failures the whole time,” she explains. “Once I got to college I got my hands on a mini-synthesizer and it clicked for me. I was just like, this is what I like! This is what I can do!” Which isn’t to say the rest was history – Moan attempted a handful of failed collaborations along the way, until she realized she created best on her own. 

She faces the prospect of her first live performances with a mixed bag of positivity and nerves, excited for the opportunity to finally share the music she longed to create with the world. “I’ve never performed before, so it’s going to be really interesting. I’m very manic about it,” she says, continuing to sum up the whole project rather succinctly. “But I’m gonna have fun with it.”

Follow Catherine Moan on Instagram for ongoing updates.